11 Encouraging Quotes for Entrepreneurs Facing Challenges

By Heike Young

Being an entrepreneur can be thankless work. According to a recent report, top challenges for entrepreneurs include:

• Growing revenue. Businesses employing between 11 and 100 workers cite this as their top challenge.
• Increasing profit. “Companies with fewer than 50 employees struggle more than larger organizations to increase profit and sustain a viable cash flow,” the research explains.
• Government regulations. Depending on the products or services you’re offering, it can be confusing to constantly self-check a new business for regulatory compliance.

These stressors combined with others — like not having a regular paycheck or healthcare — can make some small business owners feel like giving up.

Take heart. Plenty of other entrepreneurs have been in your shoes, and many of them have risen to great heights despite the hefty challenges they faced when first starting their business. Check out these 11 quotes selected specifically for entrepreneurs in need of inspiration.

1. “There’s lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it’s to change the world.” — Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote
2. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” — Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple
3. “For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way.”- Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week
4. “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” — Richard Branson, entrepreneur, founder of Virgin Group
5. “The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors that want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that’s how long it’s going to take, guys.” — Seth Godin, author, entrepreneur, marketer, and public speaker
6. “The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” — Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group and Shark Tank investor
7. “Don’t be afraid to ignore rules of your industry that have become obsolete or that defy common sense.” — Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
8. “It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because all that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.” — Mark Cuban, Chairman of AXS TV, Owner of Landmark Theaters
9. “A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” — Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, Inc. and Chuck E. Cheese
10. “I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.” — Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO
11. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes — understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” — Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post (bonus: download a podcast-style recording of Arianna speaking at Dreamforce 2014 with Eckhart Tolle)

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